OK, All you French speakers out there:
can you help me? I'm trying to brush up on French for my trip to France in July, so I'm studying Pimsleur language CDs.

When ordering at a restaurant, I had always said, "Je voudrais.....", but the Pimsleur lessons use "J'aimerais....."

Are both correct? Which is more commonly used? Or is there another way to say it altogether?

Thanks for your help!

Both are correct.
You may even say : "je vais prendre..."

"Je voudrais" is "I want".

"J'aimerais" is "I would like."

I usually say, "Je prendrais..." when ordering in restaurants.

I'm not a French expert, but the -ais ending comes from "le conditionnel" -- so anything with -ais is considered more polite. Je voudrais is "I would want." I want would be je veux.

Actually je prends is quite common, I think. Literally "I take" (from prendre). But "je voudrais" and "j'aimerais" are perfectly fine, as far as I'm concerned.

They're parallel and both acceptable. They are the conditional tenses of vouloir (to want) and aimer (to like) respectively. The most literal translation would be "I would want" and "I would like". I think aimerais sounds a little softer and more polite to non-French ears, but either is acceptable.

The question your server will most likely ask is "Avez-vous choisis?" (have you chosen). To be even more polite, you should reply to the question ("Oui, monsieur/madame, j'ai choisis--yes, monsieur/madame, I have chosen&quot, then launch into your D'abord, j'aimerais. . . This is not essential, however, it's just a nice touch that acknowledges the question posed.

Hi elle -- just nitpicking -- isn't the participle of "choisir" choisi? I don't think there's an "s."

I always think of the "Je prendrais" construction (I'll take) as being equivalent to the English "I'll have" as in "I'll have the lobster bisque."

Yes, 111op, the past participle of choisir is choisi.

Either j'aimerais or je voudrais is just fine. If you listen to other diners in a restaurant, though, you will find that most of them will simply say "Moi, je prends..."

In Paris, I would give the nod to j'aimerais-I was taught that in Paris, and I heard that more often than anything else, but of course it's perfectly acceptable and very native, to say "je prends." "je voudrais" is a little less native (but acceptable).

Thank you all very much for your responses.

Je vais prendre un kir pour vous en France!

Did I say that right?

Pourriez-vous prendre un Lillet pour moi, s'il vous plait?

A votre sante!

By the way, my French isn't good enough to tell if "pour vous" is right. Would "a votre part" (on your behalf) be better?

Sounds good to me. And grandmere I'll be happy to have a Lillet for you!

I just found out that a store in my area carries Lillet, so I've been getting in some practice- it's my new favorite.

Moi, je prefere Lillet aussi. (I just can't be bothered getting the accents in, sorry.)

Sans "s" it is! (bad habit of mine--10,000 lashes with a Becherelle. Or did I spell that wrong, too

Well, elle, it's ironic that Bescherelle has an "s" -- see
http://www.bescherelle.com/ .

Maybe some day someone can explain to me when to use the other forms of subjunctive -- Bescherelle conjugates more than the present and the past subjunctives.

Well, I couldn't put the "s" in Bescherelle, because I had already used it up in my "choisis"!

Un kir pour moi, s'il vous plaît! Peut-être un kir royale?

In this case "choisi" is correct, but in other cases it could be "choisis", "choisie" or "choisies", as the past participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object when it (the direct object) is before the verb: e.g. "Aimez-vous les pâtisseries que vous avez choisies?"

It doesn't matter when you're speaking, as the pronunciation is the same.